John ernest miller



(Modell) z'snee'ts-sneep 1.

J. E. MILLER. Glass Engraving Machine. ,No. 239,263. Patented March 22,1881.

\lilllillllllllllllk sl L L Hm llllIlllllllllllllllllllllfllllllll IHIIIIL Illlllllllllllll "UNiTiEo STATES FATENT FFJICEO JOHN ERNEST MILLER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE DUNCAN 8t SONS, OF SAME PLACE.

GLASS-'ENGRAVING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters. Patent No. 239,263, dated March 22 1881.

Application filed July 14, 1880. (Model) To all whom it may concern: y Be it known that 1, JOHN ERNEST MILLER,

of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Glass-Engraving Machines and I do hereby declare the followingtp bea full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciro fication, in which Figurel is a side elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a plan View. Fig. 3 is an end View, showing one of the en graving-tools and the devices for moving the same. Fig. 4

is a diagram of the engravinglines made by the machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 5 is a view of another attachment for the machine. Fig. 6 is a diagram of the lines produced by.

the tools of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a face view of the.

cam 20 of Fig. 1.

in each.

Glassware has heretofore been ornamented, among other ways, by the process known as etching,.which consists in covering the surface of the article with a stop-outfior compoo sition of beeswax and other substances, such composition being well known to'those skilled in the art, and then scratching off or removing a portion of the stop-out by tracing the design upon it, and finally dipping the article in acid,

which, acting upon the exposed portion, produces the design intended. The acid is then neutralized by dipping the article in a bath of alkaline solution.

The operation of forming the figure or de- 40 sign upon the coated article has generally been done by hand, and such work has involved,

necessarily, a large amount of skill, and is slow and tedious, and consequently Very expensive. Certain machines have been devisedfor trac- 4 5 ing lines upon the coated article; but their usefulness hasbeen limited, owing to the extreme.

difficulty of obtaining a nice adjustment of the engraving-tools with relation to the article, and also of obtaining more than a very limited number of movements of said tools.

My invention consists of an improvement of article.

i this class of machines, whereby I am enabled to multiply the movements indefinitely, and always to secure an equable pressure of the engraving-tools upon the coated surface ofthe Its main features consist of a rotating head or chuck, in which the article is secured and centered in any desired manner, which head or chuck, by means of a simple attachment, may be given a vertically-reciprocating motion, for purposes hereinafter described, in combination with one or more oscil'latin g tool-carriers designed to carry and operate, either by a vertical, spiral, or other oscillation, one or more engraving-tools, said engraving-tools being held against the article, either by their own gravity or by the light pressure of a spring, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invent-ion, I will now describe its construction and mode of operation.

In a suitable frame or bed, 1, and stepped upon a lever, 2, is a vertical shaft, 3, upon which is keyed a gear-wheel or pinion, 4t, operated by means of a spiral gear, 5, mounted on the shaft 6, which extends along and Works in suitable journals, 7, at the side of the machine. This shaft 6, constituting the powershaft of the machine, receives its power from a suitable crank, 8, pulley, or other power device. Its rotation causes the vertical shaft 3 to be turned by the spiral pinion 5 and shaft 6. On the upper end of the shaft 3 is a head or chuck, 9, upon which I have shown, in Fig. 9, adjustable spring-clamps 10, for centering and holding the article under the action of the engraving-tool.

Atthe ends of the bed 1 are vertical sides 11, upon which are two or more tool-standards, 12, which are of tubular form, and in their central cavities are placed the stems 13, which sustain the tool-carriers 14, said stems being adjustable by means of set-screws 15, working through the sides of the tubular standards against them.

On the top of the stems 13 are hollow crossheads 16, in which are the lateral shafts 17 of the tool-carriers,the latterbeing mounted on the ends of said shaft.

Two tools areshown in Figs. land 2, one of' 18". (Shown in Fig. 40f the drawings.) This tool 18 slides in bearin gs 21 in the tool-carriers, and obtains an oscillating movement, bymeans of the arm or pawl 19, which is rigidly attached to the shaft 17, bearing upon the eccentric surface of the cam 20, mounted upon one end of the power-shaft 6. The eccentricity of the cam 20 causes the end of the engravingtool 18 to work up and down in a vertical line, and as the tool presses against the surface of the article while it rotates on the head 9 the effect of this "ertical oscillation of the tool is progressive around the entire circumference of the article, and produces the waved line 18'.

By setting the point of the engraving-tool a little off the center, and providing the shaft 18 with a pulley, 22, and causing the said shaft 18 to rotate in its bearing 21 by a belt, 24, extending to the pulley 25, placed on the power-shaft 6, by the side ofthe cam 21, a

series of circles, or a spiral line,such as is shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, will be struck upon the surface of the articleas it rotateson chuck.

By increasing the number of en graving-tools in the tool-carrier a series of circles may be formed upon the article. varying insize, i't' desired, by varying the distance of the engraving-points from thecenter of the shaft upon which they are mounted. This eonstructionis shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, in which there are three engraving-tools mounted on the same carrier, and connected togetherand operated by gear-wheels, saidgear-wheels beand-spline, and all three designed to be operated by a single belt and pulley on one shaft,

1 suitable handles, 46, by which they may :be 10 5 extending beyond the bearing 26.

By having two or more points on the same;

engraving-tool any desired number of intersectin g circles may be traced, as illustrated by a the pattern 48 of Fig. 6. Thesame-effectof a number of duplicate intersecting lines may be obtained in the other designs by multiplying the points.

On the end of the shaft 17 is a tubular sleeve,

28, in which is a second shaft, 29, upon the upper end of which is mounted a tool-carrier,

14. On the lower endof the oscillatingshaft 29, and rigidly secured thereto, is an arm-or crank, 30, and hooked onto this arm or-crank of the device thus described has the eflect of imparting a lateral oscillationto the engraving-tool 27. Mounted on the shaft 37, at the same end of the machine, is a largeigear-wheel,

38, which meshes into the gear-wheel 33. Upon the face of the large gear-wheel 38, at the side ing mounted on the shaft by means of a feather;

of the center, is a crank, 40, having a wrist-pin, 41, on whichis hung or hooked a vertical link or rod, 42, which at its lower end is pivoted to and sustains the lever 2, upon which the veri tical shaft 3 of the rotating head 9 is stepped or rests. The lever 2 is pivoted upon a suitable'fulcrum, 43, at or near the other end of the machine. The effect of this organized connection is to cause the rotating head or disk9 to have a vertical as well as a rotary movement on its shaft, and the vertical and rotary movements which are thus communicated to the article placed upon the,head, operatingin 8o connection with the lateral or horizontal oscillation of the engraving-tool 27, has the effect of producing a diagonal double-looped line,44, such as is shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

The crank or arm-30, which communicates the lateral oscillation to the tool 27 is grooved or notched, as at-45, in a number of places,-so that the link 31 may behooked on it atanydesired distance from the shaft 29 to suit the adjustment of the engraving-toolto or from the center of the head.

The tool-carrier 14 may be fitted with a number of too1s,'in the same manner as described in relation to Fig. 5, but without the rotating devices, as they are not necessary in 9 5 producing this design. Thus simple and multiple figures may be produced at pleasure. The headsontool-carriers in everyinstance are detachable, and may be replaced with others, to suit thespecial work to be done.

The engraving-tools, as before mentioned, bear against the article, either by their own gravity or by the light pressure'of a spring mounted upon them, and they are fitted with drawn back at will, and retained in such ,position by turning the handles into suitable notches, 47, formed in the head. The construction last described, by which a vertical reciprocating movement ofthe head or chuck 9 1 10 is obtained, may be used ineonnection with i any movement of the tools.

At the other end of the .bed, and mounted; .in'the tool-standard 12, is another form of en- I gravin g-tool, 27 having a different-movement. 1

When it is desired to make simple waving, looped, or spiral linesaround the article, the shaft 3 is disconnected from the lever 2 and .set at any desired height in the sleeve49 -by means of the set-screw 50.

The vertical movement of the head orchuck 9may be lengthenedor shortened by lengthening or shortening the attachment of the link 1 2o 42 to the large gear-wheel 38, which is done by loosening the bolt 50 and then turningsthe crank-arm 40 nearer to or'farther from the ccnter. The crank 32 is adjustable in the same way. 1 2 5 When it is desirable to makethe diagonal pattern 44 without the loops 44', the crank 32 is shortened.

The wavy lines 18" of Fig. 4 are 'made'on thearticle by a separate operation from that 1 0 cal reciprocating motion.

Other; tool-standards, 12, may be mounted upon the machine, and by suitable power-connection thereto other tools having different movements may be attached and used upon the same machine.

By changing the point of the tools, or giving the lever slightly different movements, or the cams difierent shapes, or using different-sized gear-wheel, an endless variety of designs may be produced upon the article.

The lateral oscillation of the engraving-tool is necessary to make looped figures, as the tool must be given a greater speed than that of the article to produce such effect.

Experience with the use of this machine has demonstrated the fact that after traversing the whole circumference of the article the engraving-tool will connect the end of the lines perfectly, and that in the continued rotation of the article the tools will traverse the same lines formerly traveled by them. The operation of the machine is extremely rapid, and

by it -I am enabled to accomplish, with the utmost precision and great economy, work which has been done heretofore successfully only by hand and at great cost.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, in an engraving-machine, of a vertically-oscillating rotating head. with a laterally-oscillating engraving tool or tools, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, in an engraving-machine, of a rotating head and two or morerotating engravingtools, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A pivoted engraving-tool connected to and oscillated by a pivoted crank, the move ment of which is lengthened or shortened by setting the fulcrum farther from or nearer to the center, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4.. In a machine of the class specified, the combinatiomwith the shaft of the rotating head or chuck 9, of a fulcr umed lever on which said shaft is stepped, a gear-wheel which receives its motion from the power-shaft, and a link for connecting the lever and gear-wheel, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a machine ofthe class specified, the combination, with the tool-standard and tool carrier, of the shaft 17, havinga tubular sleeve, 28, the oscillating shaft 29, provided" with crank-arm 30, link 31, and gear-wheel 33, provided with crank 32, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. In a machine of the class specified, the combination, with the tool-carrier 14, having lateral shaft 17 and pawl 19, of the stem 13, provided with a tubular cross-head, 16, and a cam, 20, mounted on the power-shaft, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

J, ERNEST MILLER.

Witnesses:

T. B. KERR, J. A. OARLIN. 

